How do you focus?

Only/mainly auto focus or manual focus?

Do you use a focusing aid light?

I just got my new C-5060, and I’ve been thinking...

For anything further away than half a meter or so, manual preset focus seems to “cover everything”.

For really close macro shooting I feel it will be more difficult to set the focus correctly. I’m thinking I’ll start by trusting the camera at short distances. (I don’t even know from what part of the camera to measure distances.)

I made a test comparing my old PowerShot S40 and my new Camedia C-5060 Wide Zoom. I set them both to auto-everything, dimmed the lights in my room, and took a couple of shots.

I was surprised and disappointed. The PowerShot S40 was much faster, and maybe even made better pictures.

/Anders

Ok, apparently it's a secret, but I'll tell you.

I almost always use auto focus with spot focus. Focus is sacred to me in that if pictures are out of focus they look terrible and I can't fix them. I use auto focus with spot focus because it produces consistently good results

The only time I deviate is when I experiment with shooting at a fixed distance at the hyperfocal plane that is theoretically created in front of my INON WAL with a dome port. I want this to work because it virtually eliminates shutter lag. But the results I get are not consistent. Some pics come out great while others shot under similar conditions don't.

Bottom Line: Shoot auto focus with spot focus. It doesn't get any better than this.

P.S. Don't tell anybody this secret.